a little moon is coming into the room
by callmesandy
Summary: Once there was a time when even Tony was a virgin. He wasn't one now and now was when Pepper had to deal with him.


thanks a! not mine, no profit garnered. title from the national watching you well. for the trope bingo spot virgin fic.

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Once there was a time when even Tony was a virgin. He wasn't one now and now was when Pepper had to deal with him. Now Tony slept around, constantly. He was nice about it. Pepper had dealt with some real assholes. Not that Tony wasn't an asshole, but he wasn't an asshole about sex, generally.

It had only taken a few months, but Pepper was apparently Tony's confidante now. He told her about the women and he didn't seem to mind that Pepper knew about the men. Tony could be, in his own way, discreet. Except when he didn't want to be discreet, and then, unfortunately for Pepper he was very very loud. She spent more time than she liked to admit scouring message boards and blogs and livejournals for random photos of Tony doing Tony things. It wasn't her favorite part of the job.

He was often drunk, often high, and then he would spend two weeks locked in his garage slash lab in whichever house he was in. She'd gradually taken on making sure he was fed, reasonably clothed and upright when needed.

Which is how she ended up heading downstairs to the lab in the house in Montreal. Time to see if Tony had invented something new, or modified another rocket, or just passed out.

He was sitting on one of the long tables around the garage. This one didn't have any equipment stacked on it. It looked like Tony had knocked it all over, judging by the broken glass, plastic, and bits of metal on the floor. It smelled like something had been burning. It didn't smell like Tony had burnt himself this time, so that was a relief. "Please tell me you're not bleeding," Pepper said.

"I'm not bleeding," Tony said. "Hey, what day is it?"

"Thursday," Pepper said.

"What month?"

"You know what month," Pepper said. "Don't pretend."

"I'm not pretending, I'm genuinely curious," Tony said. "Can you say it in French? My French is not bien."

"That's also a lie. It's perfectly fine," Pepper said. She wondered at Tony being maudlin. It was near the anniversary of his parents' death. But Tony was more complicated than that; some years he seemed to be down and other years he celebrated Christmas like it was going to be the last one. Tony was complicated. Sometimes. Sometimes he was just pouting.

He talked, though, this time. He went on about when he was virgin and his disdain for the traditional narratives around losing it. "They're very sexist," Tony said.

"You've always been a feminist icon," Pepper said.

"I like you, Pepper Potts," Tony said.

"That's all I need to hear. And the words big raise," Pepper said.

A month after Iron Man unleashed as Pepper called it in her head, she and Tony were stranded briefly in a largely unfurnished mansion slash "beach cottage" the Starks had on the US Virgin Islands. They were stranded during a hurricane. They weren't in any danger. Pepper went straight to her phone and started to see if they could jumpstart the Stark Foundation to help out the island the minute it ended. They were safe, but the sounds of the wind and rain outside, pounding on the windows was loud and frightening.

She looked at her phone and saw that it was nearly out of charge. She said to Tony, "Where can I plug in my charger?"

"The armor's fine," Tony said.

She grimaced. The armor was charging from Tony, from his chest piece. It was a little gross, watching the cords stretch from Tony to the red and yellow sort of man sitting on the floor. At least he wasn't making her plug her phone into his chest somehow. "Do I have to?"

"I'm the best source of power on this island right now," Tony said. "And the safest."

"You love saying that," Pepper said.

"Hey, I use my powers for good," Tony said. "I am using my powers for good."

Pepper sat down on the floor and said, "I know."

"Okay, good, good," Tony said. "You know, did we ever talk about you losing your virginity?"

"No, we did not, and no, we will not," Pepper said.

"Is it a bad story? I'm sorry, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable if it's a bad story," Tony said. "And if he's still alive, I do still have some friends."

Pepper shook her head. "And how comforting that would be if I had had a bad experience, except it wouldn't be comforting at all."

"Why not? Who doesn't love a little revenge?"

"Not everyone," Pepper said. "Plus, answering violence with violence isn't always the best way to go."

"Sometimes it is," Tony said.

"Not for this hypothetical situation, and it is hypothetical. Also, we're not talking about my sex life at any point in time," Pepper said. "Ever."

"We talk about my sex life, to you, Pepper, I'm an open book," Tony said.

"Because you want it to be," Pepper said. "And I get to decide for myself about my own book."

"Okay, metaphor accepted," Tony said. He smiled sweetly and changed the subject. Which he generally did when she firmly steered away from something.

Many months later they were in bed together, their first time. "Now I've lost my Pepper virginity," Tony said.

"That is awful," Pepper said. "Don't say anything like that again."

"Sweetest first time ever," Tony sid. "Best time ever. Until the next time."

"You're being very corny," Pepper said. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. "I forgive you for that. Nothing else."

"You make me corny," Tony said. "You have that effect on me. I always opened up to you, right from the start."

"You opened up too much," Pepper said. "And I don't think you were secretly hitting on me. I think you just like to talk."

"I like to talk, I hate opening up," Tony said. "Very small group of people for opening up."

"I know," Pepper said. "I'm glad it wasn't just proximity since I was around all the time."

"I don't keep people in proximity unless I like them," Tony said.

Pepper opened her eyes and looked at her phone on the side table. "And you're Tony Stark, so you have complete control over who is around you."

"Mostly," Tony said. He kissed her bare shoulder. "You're wonderful."


End file.
